while practicing a Shakespeare scene, a friend can ask "You wouldn't happen to have a sword, would you?" and I can answer, "I don't know, maybe--let me check," and return a minute later with a wooden practice sword (I think the real swords went to Pennsic).

Not quite as fun as answering the question "But what I want to know is, who are the guys with the sords?" with "That's my landlord--want to meet him?", but not bad for a Friday afternoon, either.